The specifics of the effectiveness of reading complex professional texts when working with an AI agent: Assessment of the level of assimilation, taking into account the establishment of the duration and amount of gaze fixation

Introduction. The article raises the question of the effectiveness of reading complex professional texts in the field of education using a traditional approach and working with an AI agent. The purpose of this article is to identify the level of material acquisition by undergraduate students when reading complex professional texts in the field of education and working with an AI agent, taking into account the duration and number of fixations on the material. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the theory of the activity–based approach (A.N. Leontiev), in which cognition is organized on the basis of intensive cognitive activities of students in the process of formulating and researching their prompt requests to the AI agent. The design of the study assumed measurements of indicators in the experimental and control groups. Testing was used to establish the level of memorization of large texts and the level of positive motivation when reading complex professional texts in experimental and control groups. The technologies of attention fixation (‘eye tracker’) were used, as well as video recording of the student’s work with the text. The level of readability of the text, its linguistic simplicity and clarity of presentation, the length of sentences and the complexity of syntax, as well as the structure of paragraphs and the division of the text were assessed in advance through AI systems of Text Meters on a level scale. At the end of the experiment, the results of filling in knowledge maps by participants of the control and experimental groups were analyzed, as well as the reports for fixing students’ gaze on the text under study were evaluated. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to establish the presence of a statistically significant relationship between variables such as gaze fixation on the educational text and the final educational results of students in mastering the topics studied. Results. It was revealed that the duration of fixing students’ gaze on the text of the original source is less than on the text generated by the chat bot; the number of students fixing their gaze on the material when working with an AI agent exceeds the same indicator in the group working with a traditional text source by 45.3%; there is a statistically significant direct relationship between the fixation of the gaze on the text and the level of assimilation of the studied material (the value of the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.7, which indicates the presence of a moderate positive correlation between these parameters); when working with an AI agent, a high (meaningful) level of assimilation of educational material prevails, recorded in the majority of subjects (54.55%). On the contrary, the group working with the traditional primary text source is dominated by a predominantly low (fragmentary) level of learning of the educational material. Conclusions. The authors concluded that learning material is more effective when working with an AI agent than when reading complex professional texts in the field of education, but emphasize the importance of further research to compare the results of material acquisition when working with an AI agent and other innovative technologies, including those based on AI.